The Chargers have finished in second place in the West each of the past two seasons – a game behind Kansas City in 2010 and losers of a tiebreaker to Denver in ’11.

That’s the difference,” Norv Turner said, “between being a playoff team and not being a playoff team.”

From ’06-09, the Chargers seemingly willed victories against Denver, Kansas City and Oakland. Moreover, there were times that losing to one of them seemed impossible, especially the Raiders.

During those four years, the Chargers lost to Kansas City twice and Denver twice. But they outscored those teams by an average of 31-18. And, of course, there was the 13-game winning streak against Oakland that began in 2003 and lasted through ‘09.

Chargers that were here for the entirety of that domination, though, expressed the same sentiment – that the rest of the West has greatly improved. Rivers pointed to the close victories, including two two-point victories over Kansas City in 2008. Even a few of the 13 straight victories against the Raiders weren’t decided until late and certainly were costly in terms of health.

“It shows what a fine line it is -- 3-3 to 4-2,” Rivers said. “It shows how hard it is to win division games. Yeah, we did it. But it was never easy.”

Actually, it was. But point taken.

Funny thing, when the Chargers were rolling to the playoffs every season, the complaint people found to make was their lack of success outside the AFC West.

From ’06 to ’09, the Chargers posted an .833 winning percentage in the division and a .650 mark outside of it. The past two years, their .500 mark against AFC West teams is slightly bettered by their .550 success rate against everyone else.

Routs of playoff teams Indianapolis (’10) and Baltimore (’11) ended up not mattering at all because the Chargers are 1-3 against Oakland, 3-1 against Denver and 2-2 against Kansas City the past two years.

Flip-flopped, .500 against everyone else and slightly better than that in the division, and the Chargers would not be in a two-year playoff drought. That doesn’t mean they would have ultimately achieved postseason success or excused the mediocrity of the past two years. But it would have been better than what has transpired.

“You have to win in your division,” tight end Randy McMichael said. “We’ve lost the past two years because we didn’t take care of our division. Otherwise, no matter how many games you win outside your division, it probably won’t matter – especially in the West, where it seems like it always comes down to the last two weeks.”

Monday night is just the first of 16 games, but it is a game against an AFC West opponent.

“It’s exciting,” Turner said. “I think everyone understands the importance of it right from the beginning.”

He has brought up the 5-1 to 3-3 plunge several times to the team.

Yes, this Chargers team knows more than most that in this season of such great import, no games are ever as important as those against AFC West foes.

Win Monday at Oakland and there is a built-in cushion, a peace of mind regardless of what happens the next two weeks before playing another division game, Sept. 30 at Kansas City. Lose, and it not only feels worse than just another loss, it is worse.